In the Stocks
by Southern Steel
Summary: Merlin and Arthur have been put in the stocks for a day.


**_Sorry if the conversation doesn't flow right, I'm not that good at the character's personalities yet (Hard to be when the show only comes on on Friday's and never replays and now is over until the next season. :'( ) Anyways, hope you like the story and sorry the ending is sucky. Never have been good at endings. And finally, sorry about any spelling or grammer errors. The program I have doesn't have spell check and fanfiction's spellcheck isn't working for me for some reason. _**

**_Disclaimer: I own nothing...unfortunatly. _**

_In the Stocks_

"I am going to kill you, Merlin!" Prince Arthur of Camelot growled as a tomato hit him upside the head.

"I know, Sire." Merlin replied, moving his head down to avoid a carrot someone had thrown.

_'A carrot?' _the servant boy thought. _'What are they trying to do, poke my eye out?'_

"This is all your fault!" Arthur griped, another tomato hitting his forehead.

"My fault? How is this my fault?" Merlin asked, a rotted tomato hitting above his head.

"Let me see," Arthur said slowly, sarcastically. "Because I am prince and I said it is your fault."

"That's no excuse!" Merlin scoffed.

"Is to."

"Is not."

"Is to and that is the last word on this!" Arthur announced, trying to hold his head high and proud, a hard thing to do when his head was in the stocks.

"Still not my fault." Merlin said quietly, a smirk on his face.

_"Merlin!" _Arthur was clearly annoyed.

He opened his mouth to say more, but a well-aimed tomato flew into the prince's mouth, leaving the prince gagging and silent.

"Good shot!" Merlin cheered, laughing along with the boys and girls who were throwing the rotten fruit at the boys in the stocks.

Arthur mummbled something uninteligable as he continued spitting the tomato out in disgust. Merlin and the children just kept laughing.

"This is all your fault, Merlin!" Aruthur growled, his voice muffled with rotton tomato.

"Is not!" Merlin argued as he expertaly moved his head to avoid another tomato.

_'To bad rotton fruit dodging isn't considered a skill,' _Merlin thought humerously, _'Cause if it was, I'd be an expert by now. I really spend to much time in the stocks.'_

"Is so!" Arthur shot back. A large tomato landed right on top of Arthur's head, sending rotton tomato juice down his neck and onto the Crowned Prince's back. "Really. I'm the Prince. You'd think my father would not subject me to this...this degration!"

"If I recall, Sire," Merlin reminded, "It was _you _who chose the stocks for a day over a week in the dungeons."

"Either way it's degrading." Aruthur puffed. "I'm the prince and prince's do _not_ get thrown in the stocks or the dungeons."

"They do if their father is Uther Pendragon." Merlin said quickly, glad that Arthur couldn't hit him or throw anything at him.

"Shut up, Merlin!" Arthur growled, glaring at his servent.

"Yes, _sire._" Merlin replied sarcastically, grinning.

"You are going to die when I get out of here, you know that right?" Arthur told him.

"I know." Merlin replied happily. "But you can't do anything right now, can you."

Arthur just glared. Five minutes passed in silence. At least, as silent as it could be with about twenty kids and a few adults pelting the prince and his servent with rotton fruit. Finally, the fruit ran out, and the persecutors hurried off to find more.

"Finally!" Arthur exclaimed. "How do they get amusement throwing fruit at the same people for hours on end?"

"Easy." Merlin replied coming from his previous experiances with the fruit persecutors. "They don't get bored and have nothing better to do."

"I can see that." Arthur huffed.

"What did you two do now?" a quiet female voice asked.

"It's all Arthur's fault, Gwen!" Merlin exclaimed quickly as he recognized the voice as that of his friend.

"Is not!" Arthur argued, attempting to look dignified, but failing miserably.

"Is so!"

"Is not!"

Gwen chuckled as the two argued like little boys.

"And what exactly did you two do?" she asked, amusement in her voice.

"_Merlin_ here thought it would be fun to uncinch my saddle," Arthur answered quickly, a little embarrasment in his voice, "I obviously could not let him get away with it, so I did the only rational thing a prince could do."

"And that is?" Gwen pushed when he fell silent.

"He chased me down the halls and into the King's throne room where he was having a meeting." Merlin picked up the story. "And all for no reason. I didn't uncinch the saddle!"

"Then who did?" Arthur barked, clearly embarrased.

"I don't know, but it wasn't me!" Merlin replied.

"I take it Uther did not appreciate you two barging in on his meeting." Gwen interupted.

"He didn't mind the interruption so much as he minded Arthur tackling me and knocking us both into his throne and sending him and Morgana to the ground." Merlin corrected her.

"And so he threw you both in the stocks." Gwen couldn't help but laugh.

"Actually he only threw me in the stocks." Merlin corrected her once again. "He was going to just throw Arthur in the dungeons, but _someone_ thought that the stocks were a better option."

"It was a week in the dungeons!" Arthur defended himself, though truth be told, he was beginning to wish he had chosen the dungeons. At least then he wouldn't be hit with rotten fruit and annoying conversation with his friend...manservent. "I'm going hunting tomorrow and it's hard to hunt when you're in the dungeons!"

"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't chased me for no reason!" Merlin reminded him.

"I wouldn't have if you hadn't uncinched my saddle!" Arthur replied.

"I did no such thing!"

"Did so!"

"Did not!"

"You're a horrible liar, Merlin! You did to!"

"I am not lying!"

"Are too!"

Gwen laughed at their antics. The children were coming back with more fruit so she said a quick goodbye, which went unheard by the two arguing boys, and huried away. Taking one last glance at the prince and his servant, Gwen decided that she had never met two closer friends, even if they refused to admit that's what they were. She shook her head as the two kept arguing over who's fault it was, even as the children started up their fruit toss once again. Those two were such little boys sometimes!

The day finally ended and Arthur and Merlin were released from the stocks. Tomato pieces and juice ran all over their heads and down their backs. Merlin easily shook it off, being use to it. Arthur, on the other hand, walked rather stiffly. His back ached from being bent down in the stocks all day, and the juice running down his back was sticky and made walking uncomfortable.

"Problems?" Merlin chuckled as he watched Arthur walk stiffly.

"Only a problem named Merlin." Arthur growled as he started back toward the castle.

"Prat." Merlin shot back.

Arthur glared at his servant and started walking toward the castle.

"Get a good night's sleep, Merlin." Arthur called over his back, grinning slightly. "I have a huge amount of chores that need completing tomorrow."

Merlin sarcastically sighed "Great."

Arthur grinned as he climbed the stairs and started listing the chores Merlin would have to do tomorrow.

"My room is a mess, my armor needs polishing, my sword needs sharpening, my stables are a mess, my clothes will need a lot of washing, and that's just the beggining!" Arthur resisted the urge to laugh as he heard Merlin groan.

"Prat."

"_Merlin._"

"Sorry, your Royal Pratness."

"MERLIN!" Arthur roared and started to turn, but Merlin was running swiftly back to his chambers.

Merlin glanced over his shoulder to see if Arthur was giving chase. In the five seconds that he looked back, he tripped over his own two feet and went crashing to the ground. In the darkness behind him, he hear Arthur roaring in laughter.

Merlin sighed and thought of a spell he could do to make Arthur trip, but he decided against it. Have to be nice to the royal prat sometimes. Then he remembered the long list of chores he had ahead of him tomorrow. Grinning slightly, Merlin mummered something under his breath. His eyes flashed gold and he smiled widely as he heard Arthur fall on the stairs he had been climbing.

Getting to his feet, Merlin dusted himself off and hurried back to Gaius's chambers, knowing that he would get a lecture about getting in trouble. But it had been worth it. Seeing Arthur fall of his horse had been hilarious. He finally reached home and opened the door, shedding the candlelight fomr inside into the now-dark corridor. The young warlock sighed as he thought of all the chores he had tomorrow. It was going to be one long day after spending a whole day in the stocks.


End file.
